But no, if your monitor is blacking out at anything above 1024x768 you are gonna struggle to play many of the newer releases. You should be able to get a monitor that can at least handle up to 1600x1200 for under a hundred notes...
"And do you ever contradict yourself, Minister?" "Well, yes and no..."
That may well be enough to play a few more on then. Just be careful not to 'blow' your monitor though! Non-supported resolutions can cause all sorts of issues if used too frequently. Maybe just set it to that when you want to play a game, and then reset it when you're just in Windows and stuff...
"And do you ever contradict yourself, Minister?" "Well, yes and no..."
Make sure you have the latest drivers for your graphics card (even if it's on your motherboard). If you can barely get above 1024x768 you're probably using the generic Windows drivers.
Don't forget you don't really need to see the hold buttons anyway, numbers 1-3 work just as well!
I've got a different problem. My emulator seems to run quite fast sometimes, then really slowly others. Altering the speed in the options has no effect. Any idea what the problem could be?